How to Make Friends
by Orpah
Summary: Little!Russia is in a daycare for the first time. Little!Mongolia seems to have bad intentions... or does he? Human AU


Otgonbayar, aka Ot = Mongolia

I don't own Hetalia!

Ivan was new to the day care. His big sister Katya, who cared for him and his little sister, had dropped him off here after declaring that there was no way she could keep an eye on both of them and keep her job; his little sister was staying with a friend.

He, however, faced this new place. It was at a house, with plastic slides and houses shoved into a half-open garage; the flower garden in the front was more weeds than flowers. The inside was just as messy, with kids spilling sippy cups and cracker crumbs ground into the carpet.

It smelled like a dirty diaper too.

Ivan had begged Katya to keep him with her, to just take him to her job and he'd sit quietly next to her desk, but she'd patted his head and told him to be a good boy.

So now, here Ivan was, tucked into his corner on pink plastic chair, wishing the other kids would stop being so frantically excited.

A presence, however, made itself known next to him, and he looked over sharply.

An Asian kid stood staring at him, mouth in a frown and eyes seemingly narrowed. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm Ivan," Ivan stuttered, wishing he had his warm mittens on his hands to keep them from interlocking together nervously. At least he had his scarf.

The kid took that information in with a serious look on his face, and he finally said, "I'm Ot. Gimme your scarf."

Horror took hold of Ivan. "No! It's mine!"

But Ot seemed to have decided that he deserved it, and seized the soft, knit garment. "Gimme!"

Ivan choked, the scarf pulling tight around his neck. No, no, no! It was his, why was Ot taking it?! Tears beaded up in his eyes, as he coughed and pulled at the scarf.

Ot gave a sharp yank, and it finally came unwound from Ivan's neck. It wasn't free of Ivan's grip, however, so Ot hit him on the head with his fist. That did the job. "It's mine now." And he ran, looping it around his neck as dashed away from Ivan.

Ivan burst into sobs, hands up on his neck where the scarf should be protecting. He hated day care! He hated Ot! Ot was so mean!

But he couldn't get it back; Ot was bigger, and scarier, than he was. And besides, he'd probably just say it was his and everyone would believe him.

Ivan curled in on himself, bemoaning the loss of the scarf. How would he tell Katya? How would he ever feel safe again?

No one seemed to notice him, as the other kids went on joyfully playing and being loud.

"Ivan?" It was Ot. He stood over him, perplexed look on his face, scarf still thrown hastily around his neck. He looked annoyed when Ivan turned tear-filled eyes on him.

"Give it back," Ivan sniffled, reaching for it.

But Ot sang out, "I have your scarf!" and turned and ran again.

Ivan didn't follow him, burying his face in his arms. Ot was so bad. He was badder than the baddest guy in the whole world.

Stomping feet came up next to him again. "Ivan!"

"What?" Ivan asked, trying not to sniffle too much as he looked up at Ot.

Ot had his hands on his hips, lower lip stuck out in a pout. "Don't you want your scarf back?"

"Yes." That was exactly what he wanted! Ivan sat up, looking expectantly at Ot.

Ot started to turn to run, but stopped when he saw Ivan was just sitting. He crossed his arms, glaring at Ivan. "You're bad at this."

"No, you're the bad one! You took my scarf!" Ivan accused, tiny fists clenching in anger.

Ot crinkled up his nose. Then he glared at his feet, his face slowly turning red. Quite suddenly, he ripped off the scarf and threw it at Ivan, sniffling out, "I'm not bad; you're mean!"

"No, you're a bad guy. You're the one who's mean!" Ivan said, clinging tightly to his scarf and standing. He had it once again, and he definitely wasn't going to let Ot have it!

Ot started to cry quite suddenly, wailing, "You're a big fat stupidhead! I hate you!"

Ivan was startled. He looked around wildly, as if someone might see and think he was a big fat stupidhead. One of the ladies running the day care approached, as Ot continued to cry noisily.

"Ot? Ivan? What happened?" She leaned over, nearly showing down her shirt to Ivan.

Ot was first to say something. "Ivan's a meanie and I hate him!"

"He took my scarf!" Ivan defended, scared that he was going to get into trouble now.

She sighed, waggling her finger at Ot. "You don't say you hate someone, and you don't take people's things. Ot, how would you feel if someone took your hat?"

"Not bad!" Ot insisted, hands holding tightly to his braid.

"I think you would feel pretty bad," the lady corrected, and Ot's head dipped in shame.

"I just wanted to play," Ot said emphatically.

He wanted to play? Ivan was surprised by this information. Why would he take his scarf, a mean thing, if he wanted to play, a nice thing?

"I know you did, honey, but taking other kids' stuff isn't going to make them play with you. You have to ask nicely," she said, a saint-like look of motherhood on her face. She gestured towards Ivan. "Go ahead; ask him."

Ot looked shyly towards Ivan, both hands gripping his braid. "You wanna… you wanna play with me?"

And the lady looked towards Ivan expectantly.

And this was the first person who'd paid any attention to Ivan… Ivan relented, nodding. "Yeah."

Ot grinned, promptly seizing Ivan's arm. "We'll play tag; first, you chase me, then I'll chase you!"

It turned out to be a lot of fun, and by the end of the day, Ivan was begging Katya to stay here longer. Who knew a day care could be a good place to be after all?

/AN/ Gah, it's so bad… I hope you guys like it anyway. I was very excited over the appearance of Mongolia in the anime, even if you couldn't see his face. I shortened his name cause I figured it was a mouthful for a kid to say (because most of the Mongolian names I found are) and I hope I presented him well. I like Mongolia as a character, and if this gets a good response, I'll write some historical stories involving him.


End file.
